July 4: About a dozen new star and deluxe hotels have come into operation in Nepal from since February 2022. Apart from this, boutique hotels, lodges and resorts have also been added to the list.

Some time ago, it seemed challenging to meet the operating expenses of hotels and other businesses that rely on tourists due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, things are getting better as the viral infection has largely subsided and the World Health Organisation has also removed coronavirus from the global emergency list.

According to the Economic Survey 2079/80 published by the Ministry of Finance, 11 deluxe and star hotels have come into operation since February last year. With this, the number of such hotels in the country has reached 173. According to the survey, the number of such hotels was 162 till February 2022.

According to the economic survey, by February of the current fiscal year, 45 new companies in the hospitality business including boutique hotels, lodges and resorts of tourist level have been added to the list. The total number of such hotels and lodges currently stands at 1,228. Last year, this number was 1,183.

With the increase in the number of hotels from five stars to deluxe, the bed capacity has also increased. By February, the number of beds in star hotels increased by 560 and reached 16,335.

The total number of beds of all types of hotels in Nepal has now reached 37,300. The survey shows that the number of casinos and mini-casinos increased from 24 to 28. Similarly, travel agency, trekking agency, rafting business, tourist transport service business have also increased.

General Secretary of Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) Sajan Shakya said that although other sectors of the business are not flourishing, investment in the tourism sector has increased. He said, “Investment may have increased due to potential in the tourism sector.”

He said that the arrival of new investment in tourism is positive, but the challenge of increasing the number of tourists is also there. Now there are three international airports in the country. Although hoteliers say that they can serve millions of tourists with the existing infrastructure, there is a record of 1.2 million tourists arriving in Nepal in a year.

In the years after the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been an improvement in the arrival of tourists. The arrival of tourists, which fell to 150,000 in 2021, has now exceeded 400,000 in the first 5 months of 2023. In 2022, 614,148 tourists visited Nepal.